


A Photograph of You

by thedothatgirl



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-25 04:54:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22230436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedothatgirl/pseuds/thedothatgirl
Summary: Lucifer has left for hell. Chloe seeks something with which she can remember him. Set after 4.10
Relationships: Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar
Comments: 12
Kudos: 114





	A Photograph of You

**Author's Note:**

> If I had a photograph of you  
> It's something to remind me
> 
> First time writing fic. Hope you enjoy this little idea.

Chloe remembered the moment as if it was yesterday, the disturbance in the air and beat of wings as Lucifer set off from the penthouse balcony to return to hell.

Walking around the luxury apartment 2 months later, its emptiness mirrored the sensation in her stomach – still sick with longing and loneliness. She did not just ‘miss’ him, it was as if she’d lost something of herself with him gone. Her partner, her beautiful provocateur, her _love._

Chloe’s gaze fell on the leather bound books, the dedicated copy of ‘Hamlet’ and Oscar Wilde’s ‘Picture of Dorian Gray’ untouched on the shelves. There had been no time to cover the furniture with dust sheets, she didn’t have the heart to do it now. Lucifer would just have to hire cleaners when he… _if_ he returned. Whisky did not spoil though, and so Chloe poured herself a fair measure into one of the tumblers. A bit early in the day she admitted, but the Dutch courage was needed. Its smokiness burned a little as she took a sip but it was comforting in its familiarity – a brand which Lucifer favoured and they’d drunk it together here before.

Making her way over to the steps on one side of the room, Chloe climbed to the bedroom. Her fingers sought out the bullet necklace she wore, the birthday gift from Lucifer. She’d not taken it off since he’d left – it was the only thing she had of him, that and her memories. But she was determined to find something else. She could still picture Lucifer in her mind, those deep mocha eyes, so intense and startling when they sparked with red fire, his aquiline profile and thick lustrous dark hair. She had spent much of their working day looking ‘up’ at him, so tall, lean and to be honest, built like an angel - perfect. Chloe wished she’d paid more attention when she had the chance in those early occasions when Lucifer had demonstrated to her his ‘perfect’ form. Her heart flipped a little at the thought. Just one of her many regrets. 

But she wanted more than these fragile memories. Something tangible she could keep close and rely on in the moments when it was almost unbearable to be without him. A photograph.

Scanning the room, there were no picture frames and a search of the adjoining dressing room drawers revealed only designer briefs, socks and silk pocket squares. The immaculate suits in deep jewel colours, purples, blues & blacks hung perfectly in one wardrobe, crisp shirts in the other. Returning to the lounge, Chloe started carefully rummaging in cabinets and through the books but nothing had been tucked away for safe keeping. Clearly the devil did not have a family photo album. Chloe drained the whisky and put the glass down on the bar counter top. She walked slowly to the open piano. Her fingers softly trailed over the keys and in an act of resignation she quietly closed the lid and headed to the lift. She had not really expected to find anything, more of an excuse to revisit some of the memories and be close to him once more.

* * *

* * *

Back at the precinct Chloe sat at her desk. She had no enthusiasm to tackle the pile of paperwork on her desk. She was currently ‘partner less’ - sometimes Dan would join her to help, but it just was not the same. She’d invented a pretty flimsy excuse for Lucifer’s sudden departure, but as he had ‘form ‘ her colleagues just seemed to accept it and carry on as usual. 

“Think Decker, _THINK…_ You’re a _detective_ for goodness sake _”_ She muttered under her breath _._

Lucifer had developed a habit of attempting to take photos with his phone at crime scenes. In poor taste most definitely, but now it was a tenuous lead. His phone hadn’t been found in the Penthouse search, suggesting Lucifer had it with him when he left. Chloe even went so far as to call it later ‘that night’ after her wracking sobs had subsided enough for her to talk. No good. Poor signal - clearly.

She had heard him mutter about ‘ One for the Insta’ so she started searching for his account online, she quickly found the official LUX account. Lucifer was conspicuous in his absence. It consisted of mainly attractive, scantily clad girls at the bar & dance floor, a couple of shots of the piano with the crowd obscuring the person playing, and a swathe of promotional posts for alcohol and special events. A couple of them had the rear view of tall man on the stairs far in the background but when you zoomed in , it could have been anyone. Chloe plugged away on Instagram with every synonym for Lucifer: Satan, devil, Beelzebub, archangel, Prince of Darkness, on and on … even Samael which just gave her a Metal band from Switzerland. She repeated the exercise for all the social media sites, twitter, Facebook and all she found were people who were fond of goats (Lucifer would be appalled) and parody accounts. Perhaps he had listened when she chastised him for taking photos and had deleted them. 

She had scolded Lucifer quite few times, only when she felt he stepped over the line though, and often she regretted it afterwards. There was no malice in his intentions, he was just often clueless about his actions and their impact. And then she recalled how he once wanted to ‘help’ her during a tricky time, Pierce/Cain had thrown their partnership dynamic into even more chaos and Lucifer attempted to make amends for his thoughtlessness.

“If you want something you have to be willing to go the extra mile” Lucifer trilled a fanfare and opened his arms gesturing to the pile of colour coordinated files neatly stacked on Chloe’s desk.

“What do you think? I am particularly fond of the new filing system” He continued by explaining the new ‘categories’ he had devised ‘ sexy victims file and so on. Chloe instantly remembered how completely exasperated she was by this. It was the last straw that day, and to top it off Lucifer had changed her PC Desktop.

“What even is that?” Chloe had waved at the rather risqué Black and White photo of Lucifer in his boxers, lounging on a rumpled bed, those eyes full of invitation & sensuality. 'HELLO DETECTIVE' in hot cherry pink was emblazoned across the image.

A photo! “Now what did you do Chloe? ” this time a little louder than before. A couple of uniforms looked over briefly in her direction, then carried on almost instantly. Must have thought she had a ‘Eureka’ moment in a case. Well in a way she had. Her short-lived delight was replaced by disappointment as she remembered deleting the file from her hard drive.

File recovery ! IT could help. With purpose Chloe strode over to the IT department and asked them to check her system for an image. What would she tell them if they found it? She’d worry about that when the time came, one thing Chloe could do was think on her feet. After all she knew that many cases were proven with data that criminals thought deleted, still found to be stashed away on the system. 

Not this time. They spent all afternoon looking, but came up with nothing. Something to do with complete department wide clean ups, after the true identity of The Sinner Man came to light. This all meant little to Chloe as her hopes were dashed again.

Chloe ran through the list of their close mutual acquaintances – perhaps one of them could help?

Ella had been so supportive of Chloe, they’d talked before about her feelings for Lucifer when Eve appeared on the scene, and never pried on where Lucifer had gone. Ella saw the pain in Chloe’s eyes even the occasional hug was as much as Chloe could manage before welling up with tears.

“Anything from crime scene photos Ella? I’d just like one photo” Chloe thought he may have strayed into the background. Ella couldn’t remember anything other than the odd occasion when Lucifer had ‘ borrowed’ her camera to try and take a photo down his trousers – even then she had snatched it away from him in time. No, most of Ella’s work was in close up of the victims.

She could not bring herself to ask Dan, Lucifer had become a touchy issue between them and the likelihood he had anything was remote. She knew he had had a file on Lucifer which he passed to Pierce when the Lieutenant had taken command of the precinct.

Amenadiel gave a quizzical look, he had nothing, but could recommend one particular ancient volume where the engravings “Were quite good and had captured some of Lucifer’s physical likeness” but she’d had her fill of those during her research in Rome – most had been filled with extreme images adding horns and a tail, and bore no resemblance whatsoever. The Vatican’s historic files were also beyond her reach.

Maze rolled her eyes asking Chloe pointedly why she personally would ever have a photo of Lucifer. Her mood since Lucifer’s sudden departure wavered between sullen and murderous, Chloe was grateful that much of the time she was either away on the hunt or teaching 2 month old Charlie weapon identification much to Linda’s concern.

That was it. She had nothing else. Time to move on from this search, focus on her life as it was now.

* * *

* * *

Chloe returned home. Meeting the babysitter as they left who reported no problems, and now it was just herself and Trixie in the house. 

“Hey monkey, how was School?” Chloe asked as she hugged her girl.

“Cool, we had a pop quiz in Science today, but I did OK” Chloe squeezed a little tighter and then told Trixie to start on her homework assignments.

Trixie was a bright, intelligent and insightful girl. A little willful on occasions but Chloe was so proud of her. Unbelievable to think she would be starting secondary school next year. Trixie skipped into her bedroom and started getting together her books. Chloe slumped onto the couch and slipped off her boots. It wasn’t long before Chloe began to doze but a familiar voice brought her round

“I’m sorry small human, but I have not taken a lolly from the jar in kitchen, I suggest you ask Mazikeen … and just why are you recording this conversation?” Lucifer’s voice was unmistakable.

“I’m questioning you” Stated Trixie clearly. “I’m putting together evidence, you know that as a Wussie you do not deserve a lolly ”

“Oh am I now!” voices lapsed into giggles both live and recorded and Chloe sat bolt upright now fully awake.

“Trix honey , What’s that?” Chloe asked as she entered Trixie’s bedroom. She was sprawled on the bed looking at her phone and smiling.

“Just something I took a while back…. I miss Lucifer mommy, he makes me laugh”

“So do I monkey, so do I… may I see too?” They sat together and watched the short video that Trixie had saved on her phone. Chloe’s eyes bright with unshed tears as she saw Lucifer reach out pretending to take the phone and then the sound of laughter while he pursued Trixie around the room.

“I watch it every now and then. When will he be back, Mommy?” Holding onto her emotions Chloe steadied her voice.

“I don’t know Trixie, Lucifer has a very important job right now and we don’t know how long he needs to be away” Well, it wasn’t a lie. Lucifer wouldn’t have left if there were any way around the problem. And he did it to keep them safe. 

“This won’t do though, go and start your homework on the table, I will make us supper” Trixie scurried off into the lounge.

She had left the phone on the bed.

Chloe reached out and picked it up. She opened the gallery app. There he was, in a series of selfies that Trixie had snapped a few months back with an initially bemused, then wary and finally smiling Lucifer filling the picture, you could just make out the top of Trixie’s face. Chloe hugged the phone to her chest, gave a smile and rose to join Trixie in the other room.

* * *

* * *

Towering structures of basalt rock fill the horizon as far as the eye can see. Dim sickly light and the lingering stench of burning fill the air. A layer of ash coats everything and it continually falls like dead grey snow. Down below in the narrow alleyways between the towers there’s no human movement, just the odd muffled cry or weak wailing breaks the deathly gloom. Each heavy cell door has a high window, scratched and dirty so the King of Hell can check on the progress of his guests. Their doors are open but their guilt holds them fast. Unlike those who felt no remorse and who had to be persuaded by demons to take up residence here – they are in another part of hell. That’s where most of the demons stay, devising and implementing all their tortures, honing their skills, sharpening their blades.

The King of Hell sits on his ‘throne’. Rough unyielding stone, reachable only by winged celestials. His expression is darkly grim marring what would be thought in any other circumstances, his handsome features. Mouth set in a cruel line, his deep eyes are blazing red, demons have returned from the earthly plain with a soul who had to be dragged here. Reports of their crimes and atrocities had enraged him. He is considering making a special welcome visit. 

He closes his eyes slowly, fighting the desire to slip into his old ways. Trying to recall a happier time for him when he lived on earth. The woman who had come to love him, begged him to stay. 

Lucifer reaches into his inside pocket and pulls out his phone. No signal from here, obviously. But that’s not what he needs it for. He taps the screen and opens the photo gallery. There she is. A candid shot of the Detective in radiant profile, unaware he was there watching her work, drinking in her glow of goodness. His partner, his beautiful redemption, his first _love_.


End file.
